CCWD Reaches Agreement With Asphalt Plant Operator

San Andreas, CA — The Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) has withdrawn an appeal it filed over a proposed hot asphalt plant across the Calaveras River, just upstream of a water plant and intake that services about 10,000 CCWD customers.

The withdrawal comes in the wake of a written agreement, signed Tuesday, between the parties. According to CCWD spokesperson Joel Metzger, the board is confident that the agreement will satisfy all its concerns. “It’s very clearly laid out that Ford Construction must go through all the proper environmental reviews and work with boards like the Regional Water Quality [Control] Board and the Air Pollution Control District in order to ensure us and the community that this is going to be a plant that does not have any impacts on the water supply,” he states.

Metzger continues, “There were a number of meetings between CCWD and Ford Construction, and both legal teams were involved just in order to get a very clear written agreement that satisfied all parties’ concerns.” He stresses that, too, “CCWD by no means wanted to stifle any kind of economic development here — the only reason why we filed [the appeal] was to have the assurance that the water quality would be preserved,” not impaired or damaged in any way by the proposed plant.

Currently, Ford Construction operates a quarry on the site, located below New Hogan Dam, which sells crushed rock and related supplies. When, last month, it filed its plans for the plant with the county planning department, it was notified that the land use would be in concurrence with zoning. According to Metzger, as CCWD only learned of the plans approximately 48 hours before the end of “a very short window” to act, it filed the appeal to ensure that any potential environmental issues could be addressed as well as to maintain the district’s ability to provide comments on the developing project.